Published April 29, 2015

$8 million for Monmouth

Ambitious challenge gift goal reached months ahead of schedule
A challenge gift, issued to Monmouth College trustees by an anonymous couple, has netted the college more than $8 million for new initiatives, President Clarence Wyatt announced during his inaugural address on April 17.
           
Terms of the challenge, which was issued last fall, were that a friend of the college and her spouse would provide a 2-to-1 match if trustees pledged a total of $2.5 million in new gifts prior to Dec. 31, 2015. If the terms were met, that would result in $7.5 million in new funds.
           
Wyatt reported that trustees responded so enthusiastically that more than $3 million has already been pledged, completing the challenge eight months before the deadline.
           
“On behalf of the entire Monmouth family, I thank the donors who made this extraordinary gesture, and the trustees who answered the call,” said Wyatt.
           
In his address, Wyatt announced that $2.5 million from the anonymous couple is slated for the endowment to create the Stockdale Fellows Program, named in honor of Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale, a Medal of Honor winner and Monmouth alumnus, and his wife, Sybil. Beginning in fall 2016, the program will recognize exceptional intellectual and service achievements through full-tuition scholarships, concentrated mentoring and enrichment projects.
           
The remaining $2.5 million of the donors’ commitment will support important initiatives to enhance the college’s educational programs, and to make that experience even more compelling to prospective students.
           
“This extraordinary generosity will help Monmouth College move immediately to make real our new theme of ‘Think anew, act anew,’” said Wyatt, who noted the trustees were able to direct their contributions within framework of the college’s comprehensive “Fulfilling the Promise” capital campaign. “As we identify initiatives that can accelerate the college’s development – for example, investment in the development of our faculty and staff, in new techniques of teaching and learning, in attracting more people to the Monmouth family – we can seize these opportunities and address these challenges aggressively and now.”
           
Wyatt also announced a program to “open the world to our students” by providing the paperwork and application fee for entering Monmouth freshmen to receive a U.S. passport.
           
“Monmouth is distinctively positioned to define another path – creating a more intentional, purposeful and coordinated program of human development, and ensuring that this experience is responsive and available to a changing American and global society,” said Wyatt.
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